Preparing for security risks is something you need to do sooner rather than later, unless you want to experience unexpected costs and issues within your business that could cause a ton of downtime. However, downtime may be the least of your problems if you suffer from a big hack or security breach. Below, we’ll discuss how you can prepare for some of the biggest security risks. Take a look:

Protecting Data From Hackers

Protecting your data from hackers should be your top priority, whatever size your business is. We can assure you that hackers do not discriminate on business size, and that all sizes are targeted. You may find hackers come at you in the form of phishing and malware that seek to infiltrate the corporate network. To avoid this you should update patches as they become available, use security products that protect the entire IT stack, such as the device, operating system, application, network, etc, and train your employees to have security awareness. Using things like federated identity can help you to make authentication far easier and more secure, giving everybody peace of mind and making their jobs easier.

Your Staff

Unfortunately, it’s actually people (mainly your staff) that present the biggest security risk to any sized organization. Even careful employees may find themselves victims of phishing or accidentally opening attachments with viruses if they are not trained properly. Security training should start as early on in your business as possible. A careless employee who leaves their phone in a cab, for example, could also cause huge problems for your business. Passwords, on all devices including work computers and phones, are the first line of defense against attacks. Passwords are the first line of defense, so make sure employees use passwords that have upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Make sure they take it seriously too; using the same password for each account just won’t do. There are apps and software that can allow your employees to remember a variety of different passwords while remaining protected. You may also want to make it imperative that employees change their passwords every 60 days or thereabouts.

It’s also important to note that these threats don’t always come about by accident. Internal attacks are one of the biggest threats facing your data and systems. Rogue employees, especially members of the IT team with knowledge of and access to networks, data centers and admin accounts, can cause damage that can be hard to come back from.

If a person no longer works for you, you must make sure they no longer have access to your system. You should also ensure that only employees who really need access to certain data and files have access – there’s no need for everybody to be in possession of that information. Companies should implement necessary protocols and infrastructure to track, log and record privileged account activity and create alerts so that a quick response can be put in place.

Trying to figure out the best format to encode videos isn’t easy. Not only are there lots of formats, but sifting through them to figure out which formats are compatible with various devices and how well they can compress your videos is time-consuming.

The good news is that there is a much faster way to identify the format that you should be using to encode your videos: Select it based on how the video is going to be used.

To be more specific, you should base it on the following ways that your video may be used:

Upload to online platforms or social media

If you’re going to upload and share your videos on online platforms, you should follow their recommended format and settings. That way you can avoid the video being unnecessarily transcoded multiple times, and preserve its quality better.

In most cases, the current recommended format for online platforms is MP4 with H.264, such as in YouTube’s Guidlines

Distribute to various users

In the event that you’re going to be distributing your video far and wide, the main factor to consider is compatibility. The format that you choose should be one that is the most widely-compatible – which right now is MP4 with H.264.

Burn onto a video DVD

To create a video DVD from your video file you will need it to be encoded in MPEG-2 as that is the format that most DVD players are able to read. Some newer players may support other formats, but the majority do not.

Store as raw footage before editing

Professional video productions would normally store raw footage with ‘lossless’ formats prior to editing, but most consumer video cameras will already compress them after they’re recorded. In such cases, it is best to just leave the video as is, until it is edited.

If you encode the video in a format at this stage it is likely going to be re-encoded in later after it is edited, and that could affect its quality.

Store on specific devices with limited storage

In the event that you want to store your video on a known device that has limited storage, you can explore other compression options. Nowadays the best step up is HEVC (H.265) as it can reduce the file size of H.264 videos by up to 50%.

Additionally, it is starting to be more widely supported, but you should still check that your device supports it – preferably with hardware acceleration.

Keep in mind that although it is best to encode the video in the right format from the get-go, you can always transcode it later with a video converter if need be. For example, you could use Movavi Video Converter (www.movavi.com/videoconverter/) to switch the format later on.

If you do transcode your video at any point, always try to keep the original version. That way if you ever need to transcode it yet again, you can use the original rather than the transcoded version – and prevent the quality from deteriorating over time.

At some point in your life, you will more than likely come across a situation that is incredibly problematic for you. These issues can range from health complications to employment troubles and everything in between. Taking the time to understand what can go wrong and how you can deal with it is a sensible thing to do, so here we are going to look at some of the curve balls life can throw at you and how you can manage those situations.

Health

The indiscriminate hand of sickness can strike at any point in your life, and you should be aware of what you will need to have in place when that occurs. One of the main concerns for people, when they fall ill or are in need of medical attention, is the cost of healthcare, in fact one in four Americans turn down healthcare because they can’t afford it. So what can you do to make sure you are not one of those people? For starters, if you are in full-time employment, you should look into your company’s health benefits and see what you’re covered for. Some employers offer better care plans than others, so you might need to supplement any coverage you have with personal savings or private insurance.

However, you don’t have to rely on your employer or lack of one if that is the case. There is assistance out there for you. WebMD explains that these options like your state Marketplace and Medicaid are there to help you in times of need. But, make sure that you know who these programs are for and if you qualify.

Healthcare is an expensive thing to be in need of, in fact, the average American spent just over $10,000 in 2016, so taking the time to be aware of how you might be affected in the case of a medical emergency and what your insurance – if you have it – covers. Fortunately, you live in the age of information so researching these topics is quite possibly easier than ever before.

Unemployment

The rate of unemployment in the US has fallen to its lowest rate in 60 years. This has been a gradual decline over the past eight years and is something to be celebrated. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you feel secure in your job. Despite signs that employment is high, the media is full of concerns about automation and technological challenges to the workforce which may well be making you anxious about your position. If that is the case then here are some suggestions for you to prepare so that you put your mind at ease.

For starters, we all have all heard the phrase saving for a rainy day and that is exactly what you should be doing while you are in full-time employment. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t enjoy your hard earned wage, but prudent financial practice will give you room to breathe if you do find yourself out of work. Preparing for unemployment can seem a little counter-intuitive when you are enjoying the profits of your labor, however doing so is important and can prove useful in circumstances than just losing your job.

So, while you are employed make sure that you are following some guidelines which will benefit you into the future. These include living within your means, so don’t rack up debt via credit cards and loans that you might not be able to afford. Additionally, use the aforementioned age of information to develop your skills. If you notice a downturn in your company’s reports, then you can be prepared to move on to a different role elsewhere.

These tips, while under an unemployment section, can be useful for so many other parts of your life; an unexpected pregnancy, the previously discussed healthcare issues and preparing for your retirement. You just don’t know what situation life will throw up at you, so being in a position that your finances aren’t going to add further stress is a good place to be.

Problems with the law do not just have to mean that you have committed a crime. There are many occasions when you might need legal assistance. You might have a land dispute with your neighbor, perhaps you have fallen foul of the law or you could have been injured and it wasn’t your fault. All of these situations you probably don’t want to consider, but they can happen to the best of us. And getting legal advice is not cheap, so knowing where to find cost-effective help is a good thing to remember.

Breaking the law is actually a lot easier done than you might consider. If you do find yourself in a situation that finds you in trouble with law enforcement, you should consider the services that can help you. Of course, lawyers are going to be able to provide assistance. Additionally, if you need to make bail then companies like Raleigh Bail Bonds, LLC will be available to help you do just that. Again, you might be thinking right now that this isn’t information that you will ever need, but you never know what situation you might find yourself in.

Security

All of this is about making sure you are secure in your future. Some people say you can’t put a price on security, but you can and it is often expensive. These issues that we have discussed here that can happen to just about anyone come with unexpected high costs. Being prepared for those rainy days will make sure you enjoy the sunny ones just a little bit more. And bear in mind, if you are debating between spending your money on something fun or keeping a little bit extra back. There are plenty of free and cheap things for you to go and enjoy in life that won’t leave you vulnerable to something bad happening in the future.

Live your life, enjoy and be safe in the knowledge that you’re prepared.

Once you have started your business from home the next step is to grow it to meet your ambitions. You already know the benefits to starting a home business and what the key ingredients are for success, so now you will need to take the time to understand growth. Here we are going to discuss the factors that go into taking your company to the next level, specifically how to market yourself to attract higher numbers of users.

SEO

The importance of good search engine optimization (SEO) practice cannot be underestimated. SEO is the tools you will use to make sure that your website appears higher up in non-paid for search engine results. The reasons for needing this are clear, the higher up you can appear in search engines, the more traffic you are going to get. So what are the methods you should be using to improve your SEO?

Making some changes to your website will be the first port of call. There are plenty of guides out there which will help you optimize your site for search engines, so familiarize yourself with their recommendations and make the changes you need to make. In addition to traditional SEO improvements, you can also utilize third-party review websites to improve your search engine results. One reason for review sites helping to improve your website is your reputation. The more websites that have a write-up about you, the more legitimacy it gives you. For example, a site like https://budgetboost.co/fundrise-investment-review/ is looking to help people make more money. By providing reviews they are giving their reader base the information they require – and improving their own SEO due to the amount of time spent on the web page – and they are enhancing the reputation of Fundrise in this case due to it being confirmed as a reputable financial website.

Social Media

If you have already started your business, you have probably already explored social media. But getting the most out of your Twitters and Facebooks is a lot harder than it might first look. Building up a follower base takes time, but remains an important way of reaching your target market directly. To do this, you must first understand who is using the many different social media websites so that you are using your time wisely by targeting your audience only. This breakdown of users from Spredfast demonstrates how every social media company is being used in different ways, by different people, for different purposes.

We have mentioned Twitter, so looking at it we can see that on a monthly basis it has 317 million active users. The common age demographic in this user base is 18-29, and they are spending under three minutes per day on average. So if this age group is your target market, you need to grab their attention in a short amount of time each day.

Marketing is a challenge facing every company, but research and time will see you grow your business using digital platforms quickly and efficiently.

An app can seem like an easy solution to a number of business needs. Big brands have them, so why can’t you? The truth is – an app requires a lot of thought, and not all businesses can justify having one. With a lot of work to get it set up and a lot of ongoing maintenance to consider – you’ll need to think long and hard before you decide to pursue an app. Think your business is ready? Give the following some thought first.

What will you use it for?

For an app to be the preferential choice over visiting a website, it needs to have a strong purpose. For example, apps like Facebook are designed to provide a better interface and more convenient method of browsing on a mobile device compared to using a web browser. They can also allow for notifications, which can be a useful marketing tool. Consider the ways a mobile app could help your business to grow to help inform your reasoning for having one.

Is there an appetite for it?

Even if your business has a good reason to have an app, that isn’t a guarantee that your customers need or want it. Conducting a survey is a good place to start to see if your customers would use your app before you invest money into creating one. You can always start with a basic app and analyze its impact to help you decide whether or not to pursue your app further in the future.

Can you afford it?

Growing a business costs money, and there are many different avenues you can explore to help you expand your business – with an app being one of them. Designing and building an app is something that you need to get right from the outset, and choosing the right app development company can help. You can view more here about the high-quality service available to help you get your app right. It will require some initial investment on your part, but it could be a worthwhile way to grow your business and take it to the next level.

How will you maintain it?

An app isn’t just something you build and then leave to stand on its own. An app will require constant updates and maintenance in order to fix problems, keep up with hardware updates and stay ahead of current changes. Do you have the resources to dedicate to it? Ongoing work will need to be considered before you can make a decision on your app to ensure that you can maintain a high level of service after your launch.

While an app can be a great investment for your business, you also need to consider your overall online offering and whether it’s hitting the mark for your customers. An app isn’t always the best patch to cover a hole, so spend time focusing on improving your existing website before you make any changes. Learn more about making the right business decisions to help you work out the next step on your pathway to business success.